A hippogriff, in Orlando Furiosodi M. Lodovico Ariosto

Ludovico Ariosto was the first to describe the hippogriff, in his epic poem Orlando Furioso (1516). In this illustration, the knight, Ruggiero, has tethered his hippogriff to a tree. Unbeknown to him, the tree was actually another knight who had been transformed by an evil sorceress. In The Prisoner of Azkaban, hippogriffs were ‘the most bizarre creatures Harry had ever seen’, with ‘the bodies, hind legs and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles.’ Shown here: opening of Canto Sesto (VI)